Stairway to Heavens

A historic staircase

Studio GGSV's artistic installation begins in one of the department store's Art Nouveau staircases, built at the same time as the Coupole. In 1912, Alphonse Kahn and Théophile Bader, the founders of Galeries Lafayette, wished to transform their store into a place of commerce as much as a place of desire. They entrusted their expansion to the architect Ferdinand Chanut, who undertook gigantic alterations, remodelling the department stores' in depth.

A new vertical and circular organisation emerged, organised around the immense neo-Byzantine-inspired dome designed by Jacques Grüber and the majestic grand staircase decorated by Louis Majorelle, linking the ground floor to the first floor of the shop. This architectural boldness goes hand in hand with a technical innovation: the installation of twenty glass lifts around the Dome completes the new upward dynamic of the department stores', creating an orderly and attractive vertical traffic for customers who can then take in the different floors and displays at a glance. Staircases naturally frame the perimeter of these lifts, using the curves and floral details of the Coupole décor on their railings.

A contemporary reinterpretation of heritage

With STAIRWAY TO HEAVENS, Studio GGSV reinvests one of these historic staircases and makes this place of passage its playground. The space is conceived as a huge set, revealing a contemporary and dreamlike reinterpretation of the shop's formal Art Nouveau vocabulary. From the ground floor to the 5th floor, a trompe-l'oeil panorama, created from digital images and accompanied by original lighting, reveals five unusual and immersive worlds.

Inspired by the title of the British rock band Led Zeppelin (1971), the work by Studio GGSV invites visitors to a visual experience as they pass through the staircase. The journey from the ground floor to the fifth floor is marked by a succession of fantastic panoramas, with changing materialities as they ascend. From an obscure and mineral subterranean world, the visitor progresses gradually through lighter and more luminous spaces, passing through architectural and floral themes; then rising again, reaching the stained glass windows of an imaginary dome to finally culminate in an aerial world, with evanescent pastel tones.

On each floor, Studio GGSV offers a reinterpretation of the textures and architectural and decorative motifs of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. Art Nouveau leaves and flowers, marble, granite, brass or glass: these elements of the department store's heritage find a contemporary existence in this staircase, digitally reworked in different scales within the wall panoramas, or materially through the luminaires presented on each floor.

New lights

The design duo has created a series of lamps that work in pairs and cover each world, physically extending the shapes, materials and trompe-l'oeil effects developed on the staircase walls.
Produced with the help of specialised craftsmen, these objects combine ancestral techniques with new technologies. Whether it is the intarsia process imitating marble on the papier-mâché lights produced by Paper Factor in the mineral and architectural worlds; the use of the laminated glass technique - used for the 1912 stained glass windows of the Coupole - in the glass suspensions produced by the Saint-Just workshops (Saint-Gobain); or the 3D printing of the floral lights camouflaged by a brass coating: the objects designed by Studio GGSVV testify to the richness of the dialogue between heritage and contemporary creation, initiated within this permanent artistic commission in the department stores'.

Part of the FRENCH TOUCH operation from 5 July to 31 August 2022, Galeries Lafayette has extended an invitation to Studio GGSV for an exclusive carte blanche under the Coupole and in the windows of the Parisian department stores'.

Under the Dome
Suspended under the historic Coupole, an inflatable and ephemeral structure transforms the heart of theGaleries Lafayette: this monumental installation, which seems to defy the laws of gravity, appears in the department stores' like a chimera, a fantastic element with moving contours. The textured aspect of the inflatable, taking up the motif of the marble that is very present in the department stores', is also a link with the design work of Studio GGSV, which has created a series of new lighting fixtures for the historic staircase. Inspired by the formal vocabulary of the place, these objects, like the installation under the Dome, offer a contemporary reinterpretation of the Galeries Lafayette's architectural and decorative heritage through their form and materiality.

Window displays
In the windows of the boulevard Haussmann, the designer duo unveils new scenographies honoring the iconic Coupole and its rich formal universe, digitally reproduced and enhanced. Thus reinvested by the emblem of the department stores', the windows become showcases revealing the brands and personalities emblematic of the French Touch.

The installation under the dome and the windows can be seen until 29 August 2022 at the Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann.